レンガ塀・厚い雪

自分で、寂しいな！#1

自分で、寂しいな！#2

カニちゃんと一緒に！#1

カニちゃんと一緒に！#2

チョウチョちゃんと一緒！#1

チョウチョちゃんと一緒！#2

チョウチョちゃんと一緒！#3

ネズミちゃんと一緒に！#1

ネズミちゃんと一緒に！#2

オフリド湖畔でのランチ

オフリドでの最初の夕食で食べたショプスカ・サラダには感心しなかったので、翌日の昼食にもあまり期待していませんでした。

しかし、オフリド湖畔にあるこのレストランでのランチは、嬉しい驚きでした。

ドレッシングがかかっておらず、チーズもまぶされていないガーデンサラダがありました。

ナスの肉詰め焼きもあり、個人的には驚くほど美味しかったのですが、同席した他の人たちはほとんど手をつけずに残しており、残念に思いました。

メインディッシュは牛豚の合挽き肉を使ったパティで、味は悪くなかったのですが、しばらく食べていると塩辛すぎると感じました。しかし、付け合わせのポテトウェッジは驚くほど塩気が控えめで、揚げすぎて中身がなくなり皮だけになっているようなこともありませんでした。

デザートはバニラアイスクリームをひとすくいと、バクラヴァ（正確には何なのかよく分かりませんでしたが、とても甘いお菓子でした）でした。

Death's End | Cixin Liu | Bloomsbury Publishing

快600页的《Death's End》终于看完了。刘慈欣的三体世界也随这本书终结了。

原以为《The Dark Forest》让我满头问号的问题会于《Death's End》有所分解。但，没有。当我确定已看到最后一个字时，我第一个反应是：不会吧！

《Death's End》有的是更多的人物，超越宇宙的超宇宙叙述，还有比叶文洁更天真更离谱的女一Cheng Xin。

虽然被标榜为科幻小说，《The Three-Body Problem》还获得了Hugo Award，但这三本书我看时，却一直一直一直觉得刘慈欣用了很多物理的、天文学的理论概念想法，与似乎拥有不讨喜人设的人物来包装他对人类发展史中某些事件理论的批判。《Death's End》里被批判的，应该就是民主制度了。然后就是Cheng Xin哪不知从何而来的圣母情结，与不断逃避生活的态度。书末的Cheng Xin已经经历了几百个人世间的世纪，但她自觉的年龄却只有33岁。因为她一直一直一直不断地进入hibernation的状态，而不愿意踏踏实实的活着。不太理解Cheng Xin这个人物的代表主题是什么。或许因为我看的是翻译版，有些汉语表达的概念英文没法完全表达。

刘慈欣的三体世界构造不小，但留白的空间太大太大了。表面的叙述满满，但人物性格、动机却似乎让我摸不着头脑。不晓得刘慈欣会不会构造从三体物种的观点来解释的故事。我挺想知道三体物种到底与人类的距离有多远，而它们又与更先进的物种的距离又有多远。《Death's End》不就暗示了这宇宙内与外有着更多比人类更先进的物种吗？

Gjergj Kastrioti at Skanderbeg Square

The Republic of Kosovo is a very young country and while I was in Pristina, the air was inexplicably full of a kind of youthful energy and optimism that I have never felt elsewhere in another city.

What I found quite intriguing was how the local guide pronounced Kosovo as "KosovA", which I had initially thought was the Kosovo way of pronouncing it.  Then I did some googling and guessed that she might probably be Albanian in ethnicity.  

In addition to Vlad III, now I know of another figure that fought against the Ottomans.  Vlad III and Gjergj Kastrioti were contemporaries, the former a Wallachia prince and the other an Albanian noble.  Resistance against the Ottoman Empire was a theme that the local guides in different regions of Eastern Balkans spoke about without failure.  

The Dark Forest | Cixin Liu | Bloomsbury Publishing

这本《The Dark Forest》是《The Three-Body Problem》的第二部。与《The Three-Body Problem》一样，我看的是翻译的。好厚的一本书 500多页 我撑着看完了 。

虽然前一本与这本书作者同样是刘慈欣，可我觉得作者的风格怎么好像两个不同的人似的，后来搞清楚了，《The Dark Forest》与《The Three-Body Problem》的翻译者不是同一人。我没想到原来不同的翻译者可以让同一作者的风格相当的不一样，好似不同作者的作品。这让我挺好奇的，若这本《The Dark Forest》也由《The Three-Body Problem》的翻译者来翻译，连贯性会不会比较好呢？这点又让我挺好奇，汉字原文的《The Three-Body Problem》与《The Dark Forest》会不会因翻译而流失了什么呢？例如，我挺好奇Wallfacer和Wallbreaker的汉字原文是什么，而Luo Ji施的法'spell'汉字原文是否也是'施法'。

不知我是否看漏了什么，最好奇的是为何Luo Ji被选为Wallfacer，还有，为何ETO最想除掉的Wallfacer是Luo Ji。再来就是Evans这人。叶文洁是好傻好天真，但刘慈欣对于Evans的琢磨似乎不多，挺难尝试从心理学角度来拆解Evans的思想行为。

或许分解在《Death's End》中吧。

枝4・秋

自分で、寂しいな！#1

自分で、寂しいな！#2

自分で、寂しいな！#3

カニちゃんと一緒に！#1

カニちゃんと一緒に！#2

チョウチョちゃんと一緒に！#1

ネズミちゃんと一緒に！

雪を頂いた山頂

初雪の山

自分で、寂しいな！1 - #1

自分で、寂しいな！2 - #1

自分で、寂しいな！3 - #1

自分で、寂しいな！3 - #2

自分で、寂しいな！3 - #3

自分で、寂しいな！4 - #1

自分で、寂しいな！4 - #2

自分で、寂しいな！4 - #3

カニちゃんと一緒に！1 - #1

カニちゃんと一緒に！1 - #2

カニちゃんと一緒に！3 - #1

ネズミちゃんと一緒に！#1

ネズミちゃんと一緒に！#2

チョウチョちゃんと一緒に！

Rila Monastery

Surrounded by heavy low-hanging fog and incessant snowing, Rila Monastery is every bit as impressive when seen in person as the photographs taken of it with clear blue skies in Summer.

I could only enter the main church of the monastery, and not the surrounding residential blocks.  Not sure if it was a time constraint or that tourists are simply not allowed up there.

But the main church itself was the most impressive Eastern Orthodox monastery I have visited since the Savior on the Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg, with all that beautiful frescos and the large chandelier with ostrich eggs.

I could and would have spent an entire afternoon just looking at each and every fresco, but unfortunately being in a group meant this was impossible.  Perhaps I could return to Rila again in Summer and spend all the time I want at Rila Monastery.

The History of the Mongol Conquests | J. J. Saunders | Routledge Revival

The History of the Mongol Conquests was first published in 1971, and is part of the Routledge Revival Series, which republishes old texts.  For this, I am grateful, as it means that I can read older texts not on yellowing paper with mold spots.

I feel like The History of the Mongol Conquests is a companion piece to The Secret History of the Mongols, and helps readers curious about early Mongolian history and the expansion of the Mongol Empire have some perspective, both from the Mongolian view and the European view of the Mongol conquests.

While the current perspective of the Chinese is that the Mongol Empire was one of the dynasties in its five thousand years of history, the Mongols were a distinct group of people (much like the Chins and the Manchurians) who were from the steppes and the harsh northlands away from the Central Plains who pushed into the Central Plains and expanded their empire far far beyond what the Han people could ever do or perhaps dream of.  And that was also before the Ottoman Empire expanded and terrified the Europeans.

There was a map in the book, purportly of Central Asia during the time of Chingis Khan.  There was a Sung Empire (which was Han-based), a Chin Empire - which I am not sure what it is, but it was also indicated in bracket as "Cathay", which would have been the European mis-term for the Khitans (a group of people who were not Han but seems to have melted into history), and a Hsi-Hsia Empire.  The people of the Hsi-Hsia Empire were not Han either, so it did seem like the land that were occupied by the Han were much smaller during those times.  And according to the map, during the time of Chingis Khan, Turfan (which was where the Uighurs resided) were quite far from the borders of the Sung Empire.  Thus I am guessing that somewhere between the Mongol Empire and the Manchurian Empire, these lands must have been added to the Empire by way of conquests or alliance.  

How the different Empires ebbed and flew through time can reveal very interesting insights, depending on whether the perspectives are from the Chinese or Europeans.  What seems to be missing, are the perspectives from the groups such as the Khitans and Uighers and Manchurians.